Hi all, TA Wendy here.. I just wanted to throw in a rousing endorsement for The Gran Porto.. it is one of my very favorite properties for all the great things it has to offer! Just a block away from 5th Ave, and with a great beach, it is family friendly, reasonably priced and with generous size rooms throughout!

I also love that it is adjacent to it's sister property, The Royal, where those who are looking for an adults only option can stay and still have full use of the facilities at The Gran Porto.

Two of the very best choices in the area!

I work with The Royal PDC and The Gran Porto quite frequently and am happy to answer any travel questions for those considering either of these properties!

TA Wendy

Again your timing is perfect! One of the other properties I'm looking at! My big concern is that when you read reviews they say the beach is awful and that it smells and there are boats sitting right there that block the beach! I'm fast leaning away from this property just because of the reviews I'm seeing about the beach. I love that its right "in the thick of it" in PDC and I really, really wanted this resort but the beach reviews are really worrisome!

Any comments that can put the mind at ease? I don't want to ask people to pay for what ends up being a horrible beach!!

Thanks!! Oh yes - any chance we'll get the webinar rescheduled for GPR?

I said "yes" again to the love of my life at Grand Coral Beach Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico on our 4th anniversary - October 20, 2015

Hi, Forevertogether, I personally prefer the Central Beach area as it is a little more tucked in near the resort and a little less public.

ACW271011, these observations are not true always, but I dont want to mislead you, it is a very popular and trafficked area and beach, and CAN occur. Part of what makes it so popular, its great location, also can make the beach a little crowded and lots of catamarans etc... Personally I think the pluses really do outweigh the minuses, but if a more private beach is on your list of must haves, then this may not be the best property for you.

If you still want to be in the area, but just a little further south and not so busy, for the same ball park of $$ you have some of the Playacar resorts, The RIU Palace Riviera Maya, or at an even lower price point is Sandals Playacar, and its beach is actually far enough away from the thick of things that you would not have nearly the traffic.

Hi, Forevertogether, I personally prefer the Central Beach area as it is a little more tucked in near the resort and a little less public.

ACW271011, these observations are not true always, but I dont want to mislead you, it is a very popular and trafficked area and beach, and CAN occur. Part of what makes it so popular, its great location, also can make the beach a little crowded and lots of catamarans etc... Personally I think the pluses really do outweigh the minuses, but if a more private beach is on your list of must haves, then this may not be the best property for you.

If you still want to be in the area, but just a little further south and not so busy, for the same ball park of $$ you have some of the Playacar resorts, The RIU Palace Riviera Maya, or at an even lower price point is Sandals Playacar, and its beach is actually far enough away from the thick of things that you would not have nearly the traffic.

Thank you so much for the info!!!! That's a huge help! I really wanted this property. I love the rooms. Their wedding packages are great and I love the gazebo, but there are things that definitely concern me. I love being so close to PDC too. I guess I'll just have to keep reading. I know @forevertogether has her wedding long before we have our renewal so I'll probably wait until she comes back for her feedback before I make a final decision.

If we didn't need to be close to "things to do" because of certain people I wouldn't care and take something that's maybe 15 minutes away but we have friends that are high maintenance and constantly need to be occupied so I figured PDC would be good that they could go and maybe do some things on their own without being babysat all the time. Gran Porto seemed to fit the bill for that. Now we're looking at our ceremony at Gran Coral and our dinner elsewhere off site so I don't need to worry about that part of it anymore. Just the resort, which is probably the biggest part of it!!

I said "yes" again to the love of my life at Grand Coral Beach Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico on our 4th anniversary - October 20, 2015